Blind Guides in a Blizzard – Joint Outdoor Worship Service Exhortation

It is universally accepted that Christians should be Christlike. But you will not find universal agreement on what it is like to be Christlike. Many young boys have grown up being reminded by the church ladies that they should follow in the ways of Jesus, these church ladies being the type who will not abide a foul tongue and never miss a ladies’ luncheon to discuss The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Homemaking. But the boys eventually come across the gospel truth that Jesus came eating and drinking, and was accused of being a glutton and a drunk, only to have the church ladies look on in dismay as the young men’s bible study marches off to the local pub singing, “I Have Decided to Follow Jesus.” The church ladies wag their fingers. The boys continue, “Though none go with me, I still will follow.”

The charges against our Lord were false. But they were reasonably false. His first miracle was turning water into good wine in order to keep a wedding party going. He multiplied fish and loaves to feed 5,000 and made sure there were leftovers. Of all of the sacraments He might have left us, He gave us bread to strengthen the heart and wine to gladden it. He had nothing to do with the self-made religion which flies the three banners overhead: Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch. That self-righteous religion has the appearance of godliness and it is plenty tough on the body. But it isn’t the least bit tough on the flesh.

If you would truly crucify the flesh, and if you would genuinely be Christlike, then you must know what it means that the Son of Man came preaching the year of the Lord’s favor. Believe Him and you will be as new wine skins swelling with His new wine. Disbelieve Him and you will be as old wine skins burst apart by His fermentation.

Jared Longshore – July 14, 2024

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Any good leader will tell you that you want both form and freedom in an organization. The form without freedom approach sucks all of the life out of the room. Yes, the table is set perfectly. But the spirit of this dinner is such that all you can hear is the clinking of forks on plates amid those deafening silences. Everything is indeed in its place. But you should have seen the lash employed to make it so. In the face of this error, the libertine in us wags a finger and insists that freedom will be championed and all of that crusty form forsaken. But the freedom without form approach results in mom cooking no dinner, dad bringing home no bacon, and little Johnny throwing the steak knives at his sister’s door.

So form and freedom together is the target. But hitting that target is not simply a matter of balance. The goal is not 50% form and 50% freedom, as if you were cooking some soup putting in a dash of one or the other. After all, if you only have 50% form, then you’re left with 50% disorder, and only 50% freedom means 50% slavery. Yes, form and freedom must go together but in a way that you are entirely free and entirely formed. You’re looking for 100% form and 100% freedom. Our LORD said, “if the Son sets you free you will be free indeed” (John 8:36). And the same God said, “Be ye perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48).

This is not easy, of course, and we might want to echo the disciples who once said to our Lord, “This is a hard saying, who can hear it?” His reply to them at that time is fitting to this teaching as well. He said, “It is the spirit that quickens; the flesh profits nothing” (John 6:63).

Jared Longshore – July 7, 2024

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As our society continues to stumble head over heels into the sexual abyss, we must be aware of the central play being run on us. It is not merely a cultural revolution. It is not merely an attempt to send our legal order base over apex. It is ultimately an attempt to unman man. We face an ontological anarchy that would erase the imago dei, if it could. Alan of Lille, the twelfth century French theologian, once said, “Large numbers are shipwrecked and lost because of a Venus turned monster, when Venus wars with Venus and changes “hes” into “shes” and with her witchcraft unmans man.” Alan was not referring to transgender surgeries, but homosexual practice. Such practice is itself a transgender activity as the active sex degenerates into the passive sex and man is turned woman.

Sodomy is fruitless, resulting in hollow wombs. It attempts to abolish man. By removing woman from the equation, man is stripped of his glory. His glory is discarded as entirely irrelevant. Men who engage in homosexual practice, then, are both misogynists, hating their glory, and effeminate, trying to be man’s glory.

Our answer to the work of this monstrous Venus is to put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. Christ came to deliver us from sexual corruption and constitute a new humanity. This involves men acting like men, leading, providing, sweating, protecting, and bearing the glory of God as they sacrifice themselves for their wives. And this involves women bounding around like that woman from Proverbs with more fruit than she has baskets, and more children than she has rooms, as her husband comes home to discover, not only has she purchased a field, but she has vines from the Rhone valley coming in on Tuesday, oh, and for dinner she’s turned the leftovers into Turkey Tetrazzini.

This new humanity is a pleasing aroma, and the prophets of Baal had a better chance of calling down fire on Carmel than the rainbow revolution does of snuffing it out. 

Jared Longshore – June 30, 2024

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Man has long been in search of the philosopher’s stone, that instrument with which you could turn base metals into gold. With a flick of the wrist, you’re a wealthy man. That may sound like falling into chocolate pie. But, let’s face it. If we were to lay hold on such a device, we would go full Smeagol before you could say my precious.

Proverbs 13:11 says, “Wealth gotten by vanity shall be diminished: But he that gathereth by labour shall increase.” You may, indeed, gain something through being shallow, hollow, and vacuous. After all, people paid money for Taylor Swift’s last album. But whatever gains you receive from empty sorcery will turn to ashes. Judas got his thirty pieces of silver for his worthless plan. But he didn’t hold on to them very long.

If you would flourish like the green tree, then you must renounce all attempts at alchemy. You may think that alchemy is long gone. But this witchcraft is still with us. There’s parental alchemy, homemaking alchemy, educational alchemy, financial growth alchemy, physical fitness alchemy. This voodoo has many applications. In principle, it is any attempt to raise a crop, be it a crop of children, widgets, or straight A’s, apart from the Son of God who is life and gives life.

The Proverbs text says that the man who gathers by labor will increase, and the Hebrew word for “labor” is literally hand. The point is not that technology is out and you have to build everything manually. The point is that, whatever your particular plow, you do have to put your hand to it. You have to be in the game, in the saddle, tending to the matters at hand.

When you do so, you will be the one who increases. You will be substantial, sturdy like the oak and full of sap.

Jared Longshore – June 23, 2024

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